As my family struggled to decide this year whether we could afford to send our daughter to pre-kindergarten, I was outraged that quality, publicly funded preschool wasn’t easily and widely available to all kids in our state. Research shows that quality early education, intervention and support make huge differences in a child’s life. During their first few years, when children’s brains are developing rapidly, it’s important to form healthy foundations for future learning. Children with strong mental foundations are more likely to succeed in school, more likely to graduate from college and, therefore, more likely to become a healthy and productive member of our workforce. So if we want our children to be successful in life, we need to start by building healthy mental foundations during the years leading to kindergarten. That’s why I strongly support the passage of H.270 and encourage others to do the same. Passing this bill would create universal access to quality pre-kindergarten programs for children ages 3 to 5 in Vermont.

Please contact your legislators and tell them to vote for H.270 so we can give our children every opportunity to succeed.